Middle East - Recent travels by the Sennheiser ME team have seen them visit Kuwait and Qatar, to provide local support to their partners.

In Kuwait, Phil Massey, general manager of Sennheiser UK and ME, Mig Cardamone, business area manager for Middle East, Ryan Burr, business development manager for ME and Heston Saldanha, consumer channel sales manager, met up with partner aDawaliah Trading, part of Universal Holdings, to undertake a two-day training schedule.

The first day saw Ryan Burr conduct a session on installed sound, focussing on how the various products within the Sennheiser's portfolio are suited to various situations.

This included comprehensive information on the new ADN conference system, infrared simultaneous translations systems, system 2020 for both tourGUIDE and translation, as well as the fully automated guidePORT system. The group of 15 attendees drew fro

UK - West Country sound company, Evosound Pro Audio, managed PA requirements for the recent Night Surf event held at Lusty Glaze in Newquay, Cornwall, employing its Allen & Heath iLive digital mixing system to run FOH and monitors for bands, which included headline performances by Reef and The Kooks.

Night Surf is a sporting and music event, comprising a surf contest during the day with participation from many pro surfers, and a music event by night including a mixture of local talent and renowned bands.

Evosound first purchased an iLive system, comprising an iDR-48 MixRack and iLive-T112 Control Surface, in 2010, and has recently ordered a second, duplicate iLive system.

"'The flexibility & user friendliness of iLiveT112/iDR-48 means it is never in our warehouse and always out on hire. In my view, iLive has rapidly become an industry standard and continues to exceed ou

UK - Tower Productions recently provided a turnkey package in the grounds of Cardiff Castle for a Heineken Cup Final event, comprising power, heating, lighting, audio, video and networking.

Site access restrictions meant no large plant could deployed so Tower synchronised four 100kva machines from their own stock to give a 400kva generation package with 100% redundancy.

Christie Roadster HD18ks, Philips Vari-Lite VL3000 spots, and a dozen ETC Source Four profiles looked after the external branding/projection onto the castle walls with Dominator and NovaLight High Ground searchlights for aerial effects. 40 green 400W HQI's provided a solid base colour to the castle walls.

Inside the marquee, an array of HD plasma screens from Tower's newly formed AV department were recessed into the set showing the game, associated branding and information, live camera and a Sky HD feed.

In

World - A group of pro audio companies have formed an organisation to promote a standard system control architecture for professional media networks. Eight manufacturers have formed the group, whose mission is to secure the standardisation of the Open Control Architecture (OCA), a media networking system control standard for professional applications.

The Alliance has been formed to complete the technical definition of OCA, then to transfer its development to an accredited public standards organization. The standards organisation will render the OCA specification into an open public standard for control of professional media network systems.

The founding members of the Alliance are: Bosch Communications Systems, d&b audiotechnik, Duran Audio, Loud Technologies, Media Technology Systems, PreSonus, Salzbrenner Stagetec Mediagroup and TC Group.

Developed recently by Bosch Commu

UK / Australia - PLASA has confirmed the line-up of international speakers for the PLASA sponsored international seminar programme at ENTECH 2011.

Taking place from the 19-21 July 2011 at the Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre, ENTECH has been Australia's leading biennial trade show for the entertainment, live events and corporate installation sectors for 17 years. Visitor attendance to the event has always been strong and this year it will be further strengthened by the co-location of the SMPTE conference and exhibition - a major event for the broadcast, pro-audio, audio visual, lighting, staging and commercial integration markets.

Three keynote speakers have been confirmed as part of the PLASA programme, each bringing their expertise in the lighting, audio and rigging sectors to the event.

Lighting designer Rob Halliday is an internationally respected lighting program

USA - Looking to trim ticket prices despite soaring fuel costs on its Love Come to Life Tour, Nashville-based Christian rock band Big Daddy Weave slimmed down production by trading conventional loudspeakers and amp racks for Meyer Sound's Mina compact line array loudspeakers. This tour was the first for Mina, the newest addition to Meyer Sound's Milo family of self-powered line array loudspeakers.

"Taking an equipment truck simply wasn't an option," states the band's production manager and FOH mixer, Matthew Grunden. "To cut costs, we had to fit everything into a trailer behind the bus. The MINA arrays were key to making that happen."

With tickets for some shows as low as $10, Big Daddy Weave's tour hit the road in March, zig-zagging between Wyoming and Florida through spring and summer, playing 800 - 1,000 seat venues that include churches, meeting

USA - Bosch Security Systemsreports that more than 4,000 customers have interacted with Bosch products on the Safe & Sound Tour. Since its debut at the ISC West Conference & Exposition in Las Vegas, the tour has travelled more than 3,500 miles to stop in 12 cities across the Western region of the U.S.

"Customers appreciate the opportunity to explore our offerings without the need to travel to a trade show. In turn, we benefit from more focused attention over a longer period. The return is higher for both the customer and for Bosch," said Jeremy Hockham, president of sales - Americas, Bosch Security Systems. "The truck also exposes customers to the breadth of our portfolio - opening up new opportunities for dealers looking to expand their solutions offerings."

Featuring high definition video surveillance, access control, intrusion and fire detection,

UK - Organisational changes at Midas and Klark Teknik have seen the departure of former managing director John Oakley at the beginning of June.

Midas and Klark Teknik are now undergoing a restructuring of the management team to accommodate Oakley's departure and allow for better integration within the shared services of the parent MUSIC Group. Newcomer Ian Riley, who joined Midas and Klark Teknik from Harman earlier this year, takes on the role of VP Operations and R&D, while Jonathan Chitty is VP Customer Support, a new division which handles day-to-day commercial and financial matters.

On the manufacturing side, the MUSIC Group has invested $10m in a dedicated manufacturing facility for the Midas and Klark Teknik brands, with another $10m in state-of-the-art SMT and optical inspection systems. Also driving the next phase of Midas and Klark Teknik's development is the expandi

USA - At InfoComm 2011, Biamp Systems has released Vocia 1.3. Designed for facilities where audio reliability and scalability are paramount, the EN 54- and ISO 9001:2008-compliant Vocia 1.3 adds increased functionality to its decentralised, network-based system architecture and continues to be an ideal solution for a critical paging system in North America and critical paging and life safety paging systems elsewhere in the world, the company says.

Vocia 1.3 introduces four new amplifiers to the full family of paging product line. These small amplifiers are ideal for projects that have areas to be covered with small zones or provide local analogue inputs. Underscoring the importance of reliability, Vocia's new failover module adds comprehensive failover capability, with 7:1 or dual 3:1 failover, complementing the already built-in, device-to-device and 1:1 channel failover capabil

UK - Entries are now open for The Theatres Trust second annual People's Choice Award, following a launch event at the ABTT Theatre Show 2011.

Entries are invited from entertainment industry manufacturers/suppliers with a product that they consider is making a difference to theatres sustainability, either through design, manufacture or operation. Successful applicants products will be displayed on The Theatres Trust's stand 2-M14 at PLASA 2011 from the 11-14 September and visitors to the show will cast their vote for the People's Choice Award.

Visitors to stands at both the ABTT Theatre Show and PLASA 2011 will be able to see a variety of information on the Trust's European Regional Development Fund-backed 'Ecovenue' sustainability project, which is improving the sustainability of 48 London performing arts venues.

At PLASA 2011, after three days of visitor voting, the award w

USA - LDI, the annual US trade show and conference for the entertainment design and technology industry, has announced a five-year partnership with PLASA, the international entertainment technology trade organisation.

The purpose of the agreement is to expand the reach of both PLASA and LDI, and broaden training options for industry professionals.

According to organisers Penton Media, PLASA's international reach adds a broader global dimension to LDI. The Technical Standards Updates track, now from PLASA (formerly ESTA) will again form part of LDI's training line-up this year, giving LDI professional attendees the latest information on essential issues at the heart of the industry.

PLASA will be able to share its technical updates with the industry at large and benefit from the additional US exposure for its trade show and association. By partnering with LDI, PLASA also adds

USA - Opened just two months ago, Orlando-based restaurant and night club Draft chose dBTechnologies loudspeakers to provide sound to its patrons. Describing itself as a casual dining-lounge, Draft Orlando offers lunch, dinner and late night drinks with a backdrop of energising tunes.

Comprising 12 dBTechnologies Arena 12 speakers, the main sound system was specified by Owens AV Design. Bob Owens, owner and audio equipment installer was pleased with how easy it was to install, and he reports, "The customer was really happy with the sound quality."

Built from the ground up, casual dining lounge Draft Orlando boasts a host of other technology including Panasonic LCD televisions and Kramer video switching alongside the dBTechnologies boxes.

(Jim Evans)

USA - Outline debuted its iMode iPad/iPad 2 App at InfoComm 2011 last week. iMode technology embeds a Linux-based CPU - with integrated DSP chip, parameter control software and webserver - right into its powered speaker systems, thereby streamlining setup and control by eliminating the outboard gear between the console and power amplifier. The new iMode Control App allows anyone with an iPad or iPad 2 to control the extensive pallet of iMode functions via the Web.

"With the introduction of the iMode Intelligent Digital Loudspeaker Control Platform currently incorporated into the Mini-COM.P.A.S.S. line array and iSM monitor speaker systems, Outline has developed a control App to bring iMode power to the iPad/iPad 2 user," says Tom Bensen, senior vice-president and managing director ofOutline North America.

"Because of the massive global success of the iPad as the

UK - Organisational changes at Midas and Klark Teknik have seen the departure of former MD John Oakley at the beginning of June.

Midas and Klark Teknik are now undergoing a restructuring of the management team "to accommodate Oakley's departure and allow for better integration within the shared services of the parent Music Group".

Ian Riley, who joined Midas and Klark Teknik from Harman earlier this year, takes on the role of VP operations and R&D, while Jonathan Chitty is VP customer support, a new division which handles day-to-day commercial and financial matters.

On the manufacturing side, the Music Group has invested $10m in a dedicated manufacturing facility for the Midas and Klark Teknik brands, with another $10m in SMT and optical inspection systems. Also driving the next phase of Midas and Klark Teknik's development is the expanding R&D 'centre of excellenc

UK - This year the ABTT Awards were sponsored by Jelf Insurance who during the show launched their Public Liability/PI insurance scheme tailored to the needs of people who work in the entertainment industry.

The Lighting Product of the Year went to The Arc LED Houselight System from Global Design Solutions. The judges were impressed by the wireless dimming performance of these bespoke fittings manufactured to retrofit existing tungsten lighting in auditoriums and Front of House locations. Honourable mentions went to the LEDKO Reflection LED profile spot and the Robe Robin Wash 600.

Shure's new Axient Radio Microphone System took the award for Sound Product of the Year at the ABTT Product of the Year Awards. Axient was recognised by the judging panel for its clever frequency management, as well as its increased spectral efficiency, allowing large numbers of wirele

UK - The spin continued for d&b with its monochrome Black on black and White on white exhibition stand at this year's ABTT Theatre Show.

Familiar faces from the traditional mobile series of products, the T10 and B4-SUB represented the Black range, whilst the 10S and d&b's smallest loudspeaker, the 4S, from the newly introduced White range of installation products, were shown in their colour coordinated areas of the d&b stand.

The benefits of new features to systemtools; R1, R10 and ArrayCalc were readily explained by Steve Jones and Oran Burns who took time out from the busy stand to present two sessions as part of the newly restored ABTT seminar programme.

"ABTT always presents us with a great opportunity to show our products to a broad range of people in a relaxed environment," d&b's Emma Adamou commented. "It wa salso fantastic to see the investment into ou

UK - LD Systems new D1013CUSB, universal condenser microphone with USB connector is both Windows and MAC OS X compatible, and does not require a driver. It has a cardioid pickup pattern and a wide frequency range (30 Hz - 18,000 Hz) and so can be used for capturing the subtleties and nuances of almost any tone, says the company. The D1013CUSB is designed for use within podcast recording situations, multimedia presentations and "a multitude of other scenarios".

Andrew Richardson, managing director of Adam Hall UK says, "The D1013CUSB is a versatile microphone that will add a new dimension to your sound. We have found that many customers use a variety of platforms to record their sound and this offers the perfect solution."

(Jim Evans)

UK - Two of Audient's compact Zen mixing consoles were chosen for the extensive new music recording facilities at the King's Cross Centre, part of London's Westminster Kingsway College, which are now operational.

"The opportunity to re-equip and upgrade the studio equipment on this level is a very rare thing, particularly in the education sector, so it had to be done right," says Grant Leslie, music technician at Westminster Kingsway College, and specifier of all studio equipment including the Audient desks.

"The Zen was the logical choice for us as it had exactly the features that we were looking for as well as the renowned Audient sound quality; there was nothing else on the market that came close to ticking all the boxes. I've worked with Audient products before and love the smooth, clean sounding preamps and signal bussing, the Zen certainly doesn't disappoi

France - The Stade de France in St Denis, Paris, has successfully completed the installation of a new Nexo sound reinforcement system, which replaces an older Nexo system, the first elements of which were installed in 1997 when the Stade was erected, in time for the World Cup football in 1998.

Purpose-built for events as well as its primary sporting engagements, football and rugby, the Stade de France is an 80,000+ capacity venue. Its distinctive elliptical design, by architects Aymeric Zublena, Claude Constantini, Michel Macary and Michel Regembal, is distinguished by the immense floating roof, which never touches the stands, resting instead on 18 pillars. Another aspect of the stadium's design is the cushion of air that allows the lower stands to slide out in approximately 72 hours, depending on the different configurations needed, allowing the stadium to be reconfigured to ho

Off Stage - Phantom of the Opera sequel Love Never Dies is to close on 27 August, it has been confirmed. The announcement comes a little over a year since Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical first opened at the Adelphi Theatre in London's West End. The show opened to some poor reviews, and after substantial rewrites, was relaunched nine months later. Although the new version gained a better critical reception, it failed to perform at the box office.

A fresh production of the show opened in Melbourne, Australia, at the end of May with far more positive press. In an interview earlier this month, Lord Lloyd-Webber attributed the show's failure to his being treated for cancer during production, which meant he was unable to give it his full attention. "With hindsight we should have said, 'Let's put the whole thing on hold until I'm 100% again'. Frankly I wasn't feeling v

USA - Aviom has appointed Mark Meding as its regional sales manager for the eastern United States and Canada.

Meding comes to Aviom with many years of experience in the pro audio industry, having previously owned his own rep firm and representing companies through another manufacturers' rep firm.

"Mark's industry experience and knowledge of the consultants and design-build firms in the eastern US are real assets as Aviom continues to break new ground in digital audio networking," says Gary Lee, Aviom's director of global sales.

(Jim Evans)

UK - It is with great sadness that PLASA has announced to its members news of the death of Rob Lingfield, Chairman of PLASA's European Regional Board, who lost his fight against cancer on Sunday 19 June, at the age of 59.

A well-known and highly respected figure in the pro audio industry, Rob was most associated in recent years with UK manufacturer Martin Audio, where he was sales and marketing director - a role he left relatively recently, having helped guide the development and launch of the award-winning MLA system.

As is so often the case with leading pro audio figures, Rob did not start out in audio: he trained and qualified as a drama teacher before dabbling with work as a DJ, promoter, lighting designer and roadie - all of which led him to join forces with Malcolm Hill and start Hill Audio in the early 1980s. Hill Audio would go on to build the PA system for the world-f

UK - Canadian electronic dance star, Deadmau5 was the latest artist to provide a workout for Martin Audio's Multicellular Loudspeaker Array (MLA), when he played to 26,000 people in London's Victoria Park - his first ever headline outdoor event and only English festival of 2011.

It was the second year of the London Electronic Dance Festival (LED) - and since Deadmau5 is a client of Capital Sound Hire, the London based sound production company were brought in by the consortium of promoters (Cream, Goldenvoice and Loudsound) seizing the opportunity to fire up the MLA system outdoors for the first time.

"We knew how the system sounded indoors, but I wanted to evaluate it outside, and see how it would fare in propagation tests," said Capital technical manager Ian Colville. "Thanks to the tight micro-control the system can be programmed to enable the sound to taper o

UK - Crestron has introduced a new line of energy-efficient high-power commercial amplifiers. Designed to meet the Energy Star certification requirements, the AMP Series amplifiers help meet energy savings objectives and green initiatives without sacrificing audio performance says the company. Each AMP Series amplifier is 100% Crestron designed, engineered, and manufactured.

Featuring a high-efficiency amp topology and low noise, low distortion performance, the AMP Series provides more headroom for powering larger rooms in lecture halls, sports bars, restaurants, auditoriums, retail spaces, hotel conference rooms or corporate boardrooms. Channel selectable for either 70V or 100V, any AMP can be used in both U.S. and international environments.

"The new AMP Series line offers a combination of amplification power, energy-efficiency and flexibility for a multitude of commerc

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